No, that's not what I mean. I mean there's no way to be notified specifically of replies to the comments you have posted yourself.

I'm already using the facility to auto-subscribe to threads where I have posted, and rather than get notification by email (which became too much email very quickly), I can use the "Control Panel" to see which threads I commented on have recieved more comments.

But if someone responds to something specific I've said, it is virtually impossible to find out except on the very low traffic threads, so It's virtually impossible to reply to their reponse. E.g. if someone asks a question, I won't be able to answer, and if I have a specific question, it's hard work to get at the answer - at least without catching up on whole threads. But the busier threads are too long for that. It takes too long to skim everything else; doesn't scale.

That's completely different from a mailing list, where you have threads, the ability to kill subthreads, and replies to your posts show up differently so you can respond to them immediately.

I suspect that's why development uses lists more than forums, and it tends to be lost when a list is changed to a forum.